Trip mechanism for cultivators.



0. J. KALKHURST. TRIP MECHANISM FOR GULTIVATORS.

APPLICATION IILBI) FEB. 11, 1907.

Patented Nov. 17, 1908.

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CHARLES .T. KALKHURST, OF BEAVER DAM, WISCONSIN.

TRIP MECHANISM FOR CULTIVATORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 17, 1908.

Application filed February 11, 1907. Serial No. 356,692.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES J. KALK- HURST, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Beaver Dam, county of Dodge, and State ofWVisconsin, have invented new and useful Improvements in Trip Mechanismfor Cultivators, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in that class of spring actuatedtrip mechanism for cultivators by which the tooth supporting shank ofthe cultivator is retained rigidly in its normal position for allordinary work but which is adapted when brought in contact with anobstruction and a certain predetermined resistance to yield and permitthe tooth to be inclined rearwardly until it has passed over suchobstruction when the shank will be automatically brought forward to itsnormal position for use.

My improvement pertains more especially, first, to the peculiarconstruction and relative arrangement of the tooth supporting shank, thetoggle joint levers and the actuating spring, whereby the spring actswith the least power upon the levers when the tooth is in its normalposition, and whereby as the tooth is thrown back by contact with anobstruction the spring will act with gradually increasing leverage andwill exert its greatest power upon the toggle joint levers and shank asthe shank and tooth supported thereon approach the extreme limit oftheir rearward movement when they will be restored to their normalposition as soon as out of contact with the obstruction.

My invention pertains second to the peculiar construction of the lowermember of the toggle joint levers and the means for connecting it withthe upper member of the toggle joint levers and with the toothsupporting shank. Third, to the means of supporting the upper member ofthe toggle joint levers from the draw bars or beam; and fourth, to themeans of supporting the actu ating spring by which the tooth is normallyretained in its normal position.

My invention is further explained by reference to the accompanyingdrawings in which,

Figure 1 is a side view of my improvement as applied to one of the beamsof the cultivator. It will of course be understood that the cultivatoris of ordinary construction and provided with a plurality of beams andcultivator teeth. Fig. 2 is a top view of the device shown in Fig. 1.Fig. 3 is a top view part in section of the toggle joint levers inconnection with the upper end of the tooth supporting shank.

Like parts are identified by the same reference characters throughoutthe several views.

1 represents a preferred form of beam with which my improved springactuated trip mechanism is connected. The beam 1 comprises two draw bars2, 2, which are connected together by the transversely arranged bolts 3,4L, 5, 6 and 7. 8 represents the cultivator tooth and 9 the toothsupporting shank. The shank 9 is pivotally supported from the lower endof the beam between the bars 2, 2, by the pivotal bolt 7. Said shank isretained near its normal vertical position shown in Fig. 1 by the togglejoint levers 10 and '11 and the lever actuating spring. The said leversare connected at one end between the draw bars 2 of the beam by thepivotal bolt 5 and at their opposite end with the upper end 9 of theshank by the two opposing trunnions 12, 12 which trunnions are adaptedto engage in two opposing recesses 13 upon the respective sides of thecentral flange 1d of the shank. To provide for adjusting the shank andthe cultivator tooth at different angles to the vertical, I preferablyprovide the upper end of the same with two series of recesses 13, oneseries located upon one side of said central flange 14 and the otherupon the opposite side. Thus it will be obvious that when desirous toincline the tooth rearwardly so as to run more lightly over the soil tobe cultivated the trunnions 12 are adjusted in the two rear opposingrecesses 13 of the shank, and when desirous to incline the toothforwardly, the trunnions 12 are adjusted in the forward recess 13 ofsuch shank, and when desirous to adjust the tooth at an intermediatepoint, said trunnions are adjusted in the central recess or notch 13.Thus it is obvious that by this arrangement the inclination of the toothmay be readily and quickly adjusted at any desired angle to the beamcorresponding with the distances between the notches or recesses 13 inthe upper end of the shank. The lower member of the toggle joint leversis preferably formed of two separate parts 14, 1 1, which are connectedtogether by the bolt or rivet 15 when said levers are pivotallyconnected with the upper member 10 by ing ends of the trunnions 12.

the pivotal bolt orrivet 16. The flange 11 serves the two-fold purposeof a strengthening flange between the walls of the recesses 13 and asthe contact bearing for the oppos- The upper member 10 is pivotallysupported from'the beam by the transversely arranged bolt which boltalso performs the additional. function of securing the bracket 17 to therespective draw bars 2 of the beam. The up- .per member of the togglejoint levers is provided at its upper end with two parallel lugs 18which are pivotally connected with the spiral spring, whereby thetension of the the spring supporting rod 19. by the pivotal bolt 20. Thebracket 17 is provided with a transversebearing 21 which extends aroundThus it will be understood that when desirous to increase the resistanceof the tooth, the nut 2%. is turned rearwardly, or against spring 1sincreased and the tooth will resist greater pressure before it Wlll bethrown out of working position. lVhen, however it is desirous todiminish the resistance to the rearward movement of the tooth, said nut2a is turned forwardly or in the opposite direction away from thespring.

Thus the tension of the spring and the resistance of the tooth maybeincreased or diminished as circumstances may require. end of the springsupporting rod 19 is slidably supported from the draw bars 2 by thebracket 25, which bracket is interposed between the draw bars 2 andrigidly secured in place by the transversely arranged bolt 3. It will beunderstood that the aperture in c said bracket 25 in which the lower endof therod 19 is supported is made sufficiently large to permit of therequired change of inclination of said rod by the movement of the togglejoint levers. While I preferably provide the upper end of the springsupporting rod 19 with a U-shaped hook 26 as shown in Fig. 1, which hookis connected with the lugs 18 of the toggle joint levers by atransversely aranged pin 20, the upper end of said rod 19, may, ifdesired, be connected with a block 27, by a screw threaded joint 28 andsaid block supported between the lugs 18 by a transversely arranged pinas indicated in Fig. 3.

. 29 is an ordinary connecting bar by which the respective draw bars ofthe beam. are.

connected with the cultivator. The bar 29 The front beam by the two-armbracket 30. The up per end of said bracket 30 is connected with the bar29 by bolts or rivets 31, while the lower arms of said bracket 30 areadapted to straddle the spiral spring 22 and spring supporting rod andare pivotally connected with two opposing inner sides of the draw bars 2by the bolt 4. The arms of said bracket 30 are of such length as topermit of the free upward and downward movement of the spring and springsupporting rod without contacting with said bracket. The upper ends ofthe bars 14: are respectively provided with opposing inwardly projectingsleeves 32 which engage and which have bearings in the aperture 33 ofthe lever 10, and said sleeves are retained in place in said aperture bythe bolts or rivets 15 and 16. The function of the sleeves 32 is to forma jointbetween the respective members of said toggle joint levers and torelieve the bolt or rivet16 from the strain that it would otherwise besubjected to.

It will be obvious that by the arrangement of the cooperating partsshown in Fig. 1, the resistance of the spring 22 to the movement of thetoggle joint levers is least when such levers and spring supporting rod19 approach the horizontal position shown in Fig. l and that the powerof the spring over such levers is greatest as the upper member of thelevers approaches the vertical at right angles to the beam, also thatwhen the tooth has been thrown back by contact with an obstruction andthe upper end ofthe lever is brought to the position indicated in dottedlines in Fig. 1, the power of the spring over such levers will begreatest, whereby the cultivator tool will as previously stated bequickly drawn back to its normal position when released from contactwith the obstruction.

To prevent the draw bars 2, 2, from impinging against the sides of theupper member 10 of the toggle joint lever, I preferably provide suchupper member with a pivotal sleeve 35, the ends of which protrudeslightly past the sides of sueh members and contact with the respectivedraw bars, whereby when said draw bars are drawn firmly together by thepivotal bolt 5 they bear against the. ends of said sleeve withoutinterfering with the rocking movement of the member 10 thereon.

It will be understood that said sleeve 35 is 1 provided with alongitudinal hole through its center for the reception of said bolt 5.Attention is also called to the fact that the transverse bearing 21 ofthe bracket 17 not only cooperates with the bolt 5 to hold said bracketin place, but it also performs an important function as a stop to theforward movement of the upper member 10 of the toggle joint levers,whereby as the cultivator tooth is thrown rearwardly by contact with anobstruction the forward movement of said member will be checked bycontact with said transverse bearing 21.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is,

1. The combination of a cultivator beam, a tooth supporting shank, andmeans for pivotally supporting said shank from said beam, of a pair oftoggle joint levers, an actuating spring and a spring supporting rod,said spring and rod being located in front of and substantially in linewith said levers, a spring supporting bracket located at the junction ofsaid levers and rod, a rod supporting bracket located at the front endof said rod, the rear member of said toggle joint levers being pivotallyconnected with the upper ends of said shank, the front member beingpivotally connected with said beam, said spring supportin rod beingcon-- nected at its rear end to the front member of said toggle ointlevers above the beam and extending forwardly from said levers andslidably connected at its front end with said rod supporting bracket, anadjustable nut located on said rod, adapted to regulate the tension ofsaid spring, a stop connected with said beam adapted to limit theforward movement of the lower end of said toggle joint levers and therearward movement of the lower end of said shank, said shank, levers,spring, spring supporting rod and brackets being adapted by theirrelative arrangement described to cause said spring to act with itsgreatest power when the shank has reached the extreme limit of itsrearward movement, while it prevents said shank from moving to a pointpast the action of said spring.

2. In a device of the described class the combination of a beam, a toothsupporting shank, a pair of toggle joint levers, means for yieldinglyretaining said toggle joint levers and shank in their normal positionfor use, the upper end of said shank being provided with two parallelseries of recesses for temporary engagement with said toggle jointlevers, and with a longitudinal strengthening flange centrally locatedbetween the recesses of said series.

3. In a device of the described class the combination of a beam, a toothsupporting shank, a pair of toggle joint levers, a spring adapted toyieldingly hold said levers and shank in their normal position for use,a spring supporting rod, a bracket and a bracket retaining bolt affixedto said beam at the junction of said rod with said toggle joint levers,the upper sides of said bracket being adapted to serve as a bearing forsaid spring, while the lower side serves as a stop to limit the forwardmovement of the upper member of said toggle joint levers and the forwardmovement of the lower end of said shank, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

CHARLES J. KALKHURST. lVitnesses:

JAS. B. ERWIN, O. R. ERWIN.

